by Funa
No, they had no intention of living as hunters, but at least for the time being, they figured that they might be able to arm themselves with the general knowledge and skills of such, so they temporarily joined up with other novice parties to collect herbs, as well as hunting jackalopes, goblins, and the like.
And, of course, they never turned down invitations from parties of F to D-rank boys who might ask the girls to join up with them. Not even once.
The girls typically did not take on harvesting or extermination jobs, making them a rather unique party. Still, as D-rank hunters, they took on most other recommended tasks…
Such as escort missions.
They were not guarding merchants or anything like that. It was true that, normally, a C-rank party would be requested for those jobs, but students such as the Wonder Trio would not be able to take on jobs that would take them away over a long period.
Instead, the Wonder Trio was frequently requested to escort young girls, just for the day.
When the daughter of a noble or wealthy merchant could not go out because of concerns for her security, the three of them would escort her, secretly acting as guards in the guise of sisters, friends, or attendants.
Because they appeared to be merely a group of lovely preteen girls, they could stay with girls in the restroom or the bath, and even when they were sleeping. They had no need to carry weapons and could fend off a surprise attack of even several attackers—at the very least, stalling for time until help could arrive.
There were always normal guards nearby, so fending off attackers for even a short amount of time was enough, and these girls, who performed their guard duties with certainty, were incredibly treasured.
They took these jobs not only on their days off, but on weekdays as well, in which case they convinced the school to give them a pass, regarding this duty as a permissible alternative to their attending class. Luckily for them, there were those influential enough at the academy who were happy to allow this.
Furthermore, they were almost never attacked, so the girls ranked up A-grade after A-grade on their job completion reports.
As they did not often do much rummaging around on the guild’s first floor, there were many hunters who did not even know of the girls, and even when they saw them around now and then, seeing them only in uniforms, without any sort of other protection, they assumed they were clients, guests of the guild master, or the friends of family of some guild employee who had come for a visit—nothing more.
Thus, they were the guild’s secret weapon, a group of guard specialists formed eight months ago, the lovely uniform-clad girl hunters of the Wonder Trio.
As they reached a break in the conversation, the guild master took up a cup of the black tea that had been set on the table before them, and the girls picked up their cups as well.
Silently sipping her tea, Marcela’s eyes drifted to the guild master’s desk behind him, on top of which sat several items.
For some time she had been acutely aware of the four objects positioned there. They looked rather like dolls and seemed very out of place atop the desk of a guild master.
When Marcela took a closer look, she realized that they were indeed dolls, in the shape of young girls.
The four of them were each adorned with light armor, like something a hunter would wear. Two of them outfitted with swords, the other two with something like mages’ staves. They looked very much like an all-girls’ hunting party.
Perhaps they were thinking of using these dolls of young girl hunters to popularize the image of hunters and recruit more young folk?
One of the girls was a tall swordswoman, with her hair painted a golden color. Another was a mage, with brown hair and a large bust. The third of them was a short, childlike mage with red hair.
And the final one had silver hair, with a cute and amiable countenance, as well as a rather pleasant, vacant look about her…
Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffft!!!
Marcela spat. All the tea that was in her mouth was propelled directly onto the guild master, who sat before her.
Startled at the enormous spray, Monika and Aureana, who had their cups to their mouths and had just sipped in the bulk of their tea as well, followed Marcela’s gaze, and…
Pfffffffffffffft!
The secretary, who had been seated behind the guild master, pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and rushed over to him, but the guild master waved her off gently with his left hand.
After wiping his face with his own handkerchief, he carefully refolded it and placed it back into his breast pocket. He did not notice the clerk’s chilly gaze.
“W-we’re so sorry!”
The three girls apologized hurriedly—in such a way that their gazes never so much as flicked toward the desk.
They wanted desperately to ask about the dolls, but if they let on that they had such a strong interest in them, there would definitely be an investigation on the horizon.
His Majesty, the king, had not given up on searching for Adele. The girls were not so foolish as to think that he would. They were different from Adele! Different!
And so, they left the guild. On the way home…
“It seems like she’s doing well.”
“So she is a hunter after all.”
“And she’s already standing out…”
The girls could not keep a straight face.
“Pft…”
“Aha…”
“Ahahahahahaha!”
Passersby glanced suspiciously at the three girls, who had all suddenly burst out laughing, but the girls’ laughter continued to ring out.
***
“…And that is all for the actions of Lady Marcela and company for today.” So spoke the man who had been assigned the duty of watching over the three girls, secretly guarding them from the shadows. He had made his report to an audience of the king; the first prince, Adalbert; the third princess, Morena; and the second prince, Vince; along with the prime minister and the chief guard, Bergl.
“Why did you not step in to help when Miss Aureana and Miss Marcela were in danger?!” Morena shouted angrily, having heard his full recounting.
“Ah, well, I never thought that they would actually be faced with injury or…”
“Just what did you think that guard duty entailed?”
“……”
“Never mind. Leave us.”
“Yes, sir…”
After the guard had left, the king said to Morena, “I’ll pick a new one.”
“Next time, please actually pick someone reliable!”
“Of course.”
The guard had watched over the girls since before the time they were attacked, up until they reached the guild. Of course, he could not enter the guildhall with them, so he only watched over them on their way back to the dormitory, and then, once that duty was finished, returned to the palace. Listening in on the girls’ conversation in the guise of a passerby, he had only heard as far as Aureana and Marcela’s quarrel.
“As for the mastermind of this operation…”
“Understood! I’ll handle it, don’t you worry!”
“Hm. But…”
The king was mildly fearful for Morena, who worried so deeply for Marcela and the others.
Just then, the first prince, Adalbert, spoke up. “She stood in the way of an incoming blade, all for the sake of a commoner… And then acted as though it were no large feat at all. What a truly interesting person…”
“Miss Marcela is a wonderful girl! She’s strong—and cute too…” Just like Adalbert, Vince seemed extremely interested in Marcela.
“Wh…?”
The king, the prime minister, and the others, who had been wondering which of the two boys they would set up with Adele once they found her, were completely lost for words at the sight of this sudden interest from not only Adalbert—who had never shown any interest whatsoever in the noble girls who always flocked around him—but also from Vince.
Morena, of course, c
ould only think, Between Miss Adele and Miss Morena, I wonder which shall become my elder sister-in-law, and which the younger…
Dreaming of that lovely future, a pleasant smile crept across her face.
Chapter 26:
A New Request
“Now then, I wonder if there are any interesting jobs here…”
The Crimson Vow looked over the job request board, uttering words that would surely draw the ire of any low-ranking hunters struggling to make a living, if they overheard.
The last job they had done was a personal matter, and they weren’t hurting for money, so this time, they wanted, for a change of pace, to pick a job that was interesting or unusual—not the kind of minor work you did by rote.
However, they had to take care not to let any parties who were hurting for money overhear them saying such a haughty thing. Inevitably they would be chewed out, in a “Just who do you think you are?” sort of way. To put it in terms of the idioms Mile knew from her past life, they were being so boastful that, “Even Gandhi would run up and slap them.”
Thankfully, no one nearby seemed to find fault with their comments, and simply ignored them, continuing to browse the board themselves.
“Oh, this one…”
At Mile’s words, the other three felt a sense of déjà vu.
Indeed, it reminded them very much of the time they had found the posting for the rock lizard hunting job…
On the advertisement that Mile pointed to was written the following:
Wyvern Hunting. Reward: 30 gold pieces.
“This is the ooooooooooooooone!!!”
Among draconic types, wyverns were in the class of what were called pseudo-dragons.
Unlike the so-called elder dragons, which were at the apex of that taxonomy, and then the more standard dragon varieties such as earth and water dragons beneath them, pseudo-dragons, while still dragons, were vastly inferior in rank.
To defeat even a normal dragon—even below the class of elder dragons—one would need to dispatch at least tens, or more likely hundreds of fighters for the sake of safety and certainty. Even then, felling the dragon was not a done deal.
A serious extermination effort would need to include several spirited dragoons and employ a fairly complex ballista. It had to have a “primary force,” as well as a “secondary” force, proportionate in size.
In a nutshell, while pseudo-dragons still carried the name “dragon,” they were, as the tag “pseudo” implied, significantly inferior creatures. In other words, they were weak. So much so that even a team of only six to eight hunters, with the right formation and technique, could fell one.
Of course, whether or not a group of that size could fell one without taking any injuries was another matter entirely…
As a result of that—and because they did still have the classification of “dragon” attached to them, the pay for hunting pseudo-dragons was quite good.
With just a few people in a party, the probability of grave injury or death could be fairly high, and naturally, the more fighters who were included, the more expenses added up, with the pay-per-person falling accordingly.
Furthermore, materials from such a hunt would sell at a fairly good price. Not only was the work interesting; when it was done, one could then say, “I felled a dragon.”
This was the first time that the Crimson Vow had laid eyes upon a wyvern-hunting request.
This region was not especially close to where wyverns dwelled, so if they let this chance slip by them, who knew when they might have another chance to take advantage of such an opportunity?
They absolutely could not let this one pass them by.
“I really would advise against…”
At the clerk’s words, the girls once again felt a sense of déjà vu.
Yes, indeed, this was just like the time when they tried to take on the rock lizard hunting request…
“Come on, have we not proved our skills to you already?!”
“Even if you claim—”
Undeterred by Reina’s haughtiness, the clerk tried to explain.
“First of all, to hunt a wyvern, you need to pull it out of the air, down onto the ground. In order to do that, not only do you have to have the power to bring it down, you need to be fast, have a lot of stamina, and have ranged attacks that can strike upward at a long distance. If the majority of your party cannot fulfill these conditions, then you must give up on this job.”
“We have three mages, all of whom can use strong attack spells! We’re fine!”
Ignoring Reina’s retorts, the receptionist continued.
“Furthermore, even if you manage to land a good deal of damage upon it, the wyvern will run.”
“Wh…?”
The four were stunned. The clerk explained further.
“Wyverns aren’t the type to keep fighting stubbornly until the end. If they feel they’re outnumbered or outclassed, they fly away at top speed. After that, they will remain in their nests. Then, once some time passes, they will emerge, but even then, they won’t return to the location where they were attacked for a very long time. Most wyverns have very wide territories.
“Plus, the wyverns will remember any human who harmed them. Even if they encounter them in an entirely different place, they won’t approach any hunter who faced them with malice ever again. And furthermore…”
“Furthermore?”
“A wyvern’s hunting ground covers an area of dozens of kilometers in every direction. Where, in all that space, do you intend to find one?”
“Uh…”
The Crimson Vow all stood slack-jawed.
“You’re facing an opponent who can fly through the air at top speeds, with an immense territory amidst which you can’t know when or where they will appear. Once you finally encounter one after ages of lying in wait, then the battle can begin. After your allies have been killed or sustained grave injuries, just when you think you’ve got it on the ropes, then the wyvern runs away. And after that, it will never come near you ever again.
“You’d fight for days in vain, sustain casualties, and fail to complete your assigned task, meaning that you don’t get paid, and also have to pay the job-failure fee. Then, there would be medical bills for your party members, and you’d have to deal with the bereaved families of the fallen… Please think carefully about why this job is still here, even when the pay is relatively good. If you don’t, you may not have a very long life before you.”
“…………”
The four were stunned even further into silence, but the clerk was not yet finished.
“As far as dragon classifications go, it’s true that wyverns are still considered to be pseudo-dragons. If a well-composed party with the right compatibility battles one head-on at full power from the outset, then a wyvern isn’t such a fearsome foe. Indeed, for a party with sufficient power and experience, winning in and of itself would not be all that difficult. However, what is difficult is snagging the opportunity to fight against a wyvern in earnest, and often, when you finally get one, it will run just when it looks like the fight is in the bag. A wyvern is a troublesome foe of a very specific ilk.
“This is a job that is practically blacklisted, probably posted by some desperate client who couldn’t get anyone from their local guild branch or the surrounding ones to take it. Neither their local lord nor the Crown would help them, so they came here to the capital branch, thinking that among all of the hunters on our roster, there would be someone just foolish or starved enough to take it.
“We have a name for jobs like this, ones that are likely to result in your allies’ blood flowing like rivers, where the cons far outweigh the pros… A ‘red mark.’ Jobs like these are only for stupid beginners and heroes.”
As she finally wrapped up her explanation, the Crimson Vow looked at one another.
They nodded as one, and then Reina replied for them all.
“We’ve been waiting for something like this. We’ll accept this ‘red mark’ job!”
<
br /> “Wha…?! Did you not hear a word I just said? What in the world are you thinking?”
“My, my! Isn’t it your job to allow us to accept jobs?”
“Gngh…”
At Reina’s prodding, rage began to simmer up within the clerk, but then she remembered her place, swallowing her words.
“Wh-why exactly do you want to take this job?!”
“Does it really seem so strange to you? You just said so yourself, didn’t you?”
“What?”
The clerk tilted her head in confusion, so Reina elucidated: “It’s. Because. We’re. A. Bunch. Of. Stupid. Beginners… And we’re heroes!”
Ignoring the clerk, who was utterly speechless, Mile shouted from beside her, “Wait a minute, Reina! How come when you said ‘stupid,’ you were looking at me?!”
And so, in the end, the Crimson Vow accepted the wyvern-hunting job.
As much as the clerk might be able to advise them, she was in no position to refuse a legitimate job acceptance based on her own misgivings, as long as the party in question met the appropriate qualifications. If she had justifiable reasons to refuse them, or prior approval from upper management, it would be one thing, but this incident did not fall under either of those scenarios.
And so with a heavy heart, the clerk, who was quite fond of the Crimson Vow, processed their request.
***
“All right! First, let’s stop by the guild.”
They were five days’ walk from the capital. Having arrived in the town from which the wyvern-hunting request was originally issued, the regional capital of Helmont, the Crimson Vow headed to the local guild branch. They explained to the clerk there that they were the ones who had taken on the job, and, after a short wait, they were directed up to the guild master’s second-floor office.
“So you all are the hunters from the capital who accepted the wyvern-hunting job…?”